The hat is used by both men and women to protect against the sun and rain, and when working in the fields or on the farm. After each time wearing the hat in the rain, the hat is hung in the kitchen to dry, making it more durable for several years.

In particular, according to the Ha Nhi custom, when a daughter goes to her husband’s house, in addition to wearing the traditional costume of her people and carrying a jar on her back, she must wear a woven hat and avoid letting the hat fall on the way to the house.

“When a daughter goes to her husband’s house, her parents prepare a hat for each of them as a dowry and she must wear the hat from her parents’ gate to her husband’s house before the ceremony begins. So this gift is kept very carefully, and it goes hand in hand with the tradition of the Ha Nhi people,” says Chang Kho Po, a local resident in Sen Thuong village, Muong Nhe district.

Unlike the Kinh people’s conical hats, the Ha Nhi people’s woven hats are more compact and from the top to the brim are slightly curved with bamboo strips. The material used to make these hats is a type of giang tree that grows naturally in the forest. This type of tree is durable and flexible, does not break and crack, and is not worm-eaten.

“To have bamboo strips to weave into hats, men must bring a knife into the forest to choose giang trees that are not broken or have broken tops, because broken trees when split will be brittle and prone to worm-eaten. They bring them home to dry, then use a sharp knife to smooth them. Smoothing is the most difficult step because it must be done meticulously and labouriously. The inside of the hat will be woven with a frame to hold it. The outside of the hat will be woven tightly to prevent rain from seeping in. It takes three days to finish a hat,” explains Chang Kho Po.

According to Chang Chang Sinh, a knowledgeable person about Ha Nhi culture in Sen Thuong village, the woven hat is so closely associated with the people’s lives that the Ha Nhi people have known how to weave hats since early times.

Sinh himself learned to weave the hat from his grandfather and father and was proficient at weaving at the age of 12. Up to now, he still maintains the traditional hat weaving profession of his people. Sinh weaves hats to serve the needs of the people in the village, art troupes performing hat dances, with an average price of VND300,000/piece. By selling hats, Sinh’s family has both additional income and contributes to preserving the cultural identity of his people.

However, he is worried that the hat weaving profession is on the brink of gradually dying out. In fact, in Sen Thuong village, there are nearly 100 households with 100% of them being Ha Nhi ethnic people, but only a few people like Sinh still maintain the profession, and those who know how to weave are old. Young people are not interested in learning, because there are many types of hats and caps made from other materials that are more convenient and more fashionable.

To prevent the profession from dying out, Sinh says he is willing to teach anyone who wants to learn.

“Anyone who has the need can come and learn. I am ready to work hard to teach them so that together we can preserve the cultural identity of the Ha Nhi people,” affirms Sinh.

His wish is also of those who love Ha Nhi culture to preserve and promote the age-old profession, a beautiful cultural feature of the Ha Nhi people, to future generations.

Early New Year celebrations of Ha Nhi ethnic people in northern region

VOV.VN - Residing in the northern mountainous region, the Ha Nhi celebrate their Tet (New Year) festival more than two months earlier than the Kinh, which is the largest ethnic group in the nation.